BIO

Rajeev Batra is the S.S. Kresge Professor of Marketing at the University of Michigan Business School, where he has been since 1989. He was previously on the faculty of the Columbia University Business School in New York. He received his Ph.D. in Marketing from the Stanford Business School (1984). He also has an M.S. in Advertising from the University of Illinois (1980), and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (1977). His research interests cover the creation of brand personality and brand equity through advertising; the improvement of advertising productivity through research on creative and media strategy and tactics; and global branding issues. He has published almost 40 articles on these topics in leading academic journals and is also the co-author or co-editor of 4 books, including the widely used textbook Advertising Management, now in its fifth edition. Prior to beginning his academic career Professor Batra was a Brand Manager in India with Chesebrough-Pond’s. He has had teaching, consulting or research relationships on advertising and direct marketing issues with various advertising and marketing firms, including the Interpublic Group of Advertising Agencies, QUEST Inc., McCann-Erickson, N.W. Ayer, Foote Cone and Belding/True North Communications, Hakuhodo Advertising (Japan), the Book-of-the-Month Club, Eli Lilly, Newsweek, Hughes Aerospace, the Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Pulte Corporation, Wrangler Jeans, Whirlpool, and WIPRO Corporation (India). He also serves as the Director of the Yaffe Center for Persuasive Communication, co-housed at the Schools of Art and Design, and of Business, at the University of Michigan.